It is sometimes difficult to interest young children in reading books. The prior art has addressed this problem by incorporating entertainment features into children's books to enhance the child's enjoyment, or by designing the books so that they are visually attractive and have eye-catching features. Such entertainment features have included pop-up figures. These entertainment features, however, are sometimes damaged or separated from the book during normal use. Such damage or separation may thereby cause the book to lose its interest and attractiveness to the child. Similarly, educational books which provide teaching tools which are separate and distinct from the printed materials are known in the art. However, because the teaching tools are separate, they have the disadvantage that the printed portion may be lost or misplaced from the teaching tools, and thus render that portion substantially useless.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,590 discloses two-dimensional children's books in which there are structural openings adjacent to the edges of the book. The printed matter depicts a scene and a steering wheel adjacent to the openings so that a child can place his fingers through those openings as if to grasp the steering wheel. This structure, while providing some play or toy features, includes no substantial three-dimensional or sculptural features.
There is a need for books which incorporate and combine three-dimensional structural features which permit the book to also function as a sculpture, and in certain instances take the form of a toy which can maintain a child's interest over a long period of time. The need exists for the creation of three dimensional figures or dolls that also provide the myriad of benefits offered by traditional printed matter. The need also exists for a structure that can support the dual function of a three dimensional sculpture and a book.